Building structure



Nov. 27, 1934. H, 1.. SMITH, JR

BUILDING STRUCTURE Original Filed June 12, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet l Nov. 27, 1934.

H. L. SMITH, JR

BUILDING STRUCTURE Original Filed June 12, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 V M ATTORNEYS Patented Nov. 27, 1934 FATE NT Q-F'FICE.

BUILDING STRUCTURE Horace L. Smith, Jr., Richmond, Va.

Application June 12, 1929,. Serial No. 370,228 Renewed April 25, 1934 2 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in ramp structures for garage buildings, and has for itsobject to provide a ramp structure designed particularly to provide increased facilities for ingress 5, or egress when the peak loads occur in the afternoon and morning, respectively.

It is a well known fact that there is a greater movement of cars in and out of garages in the afternoon and morning than at other times.

10, Automobiles. are used a great: deal more during the day than at night, and usually a far greater number of cars leave the garage between 7:30

and 9 oclock in the morning than at any other time during the day. Also, usually there is a greater number of cars returned to. the garage, between 5 and 6 oclock than any other time. If a, sufiicient number of ramps are provided to take care of these peak loads without requiring patrons to wait, the ramps will not be worked to capacity during the rest of the day; and consequently space which otherwise might be utilized for storage space is wasted the sense that it has no rental value.

The object of the present invention is toprovide a ramp structure to take care of the peak loads with a minimum loss in non-rentable space.

In my co-pending application Ser. No. 151,754, filed Nov. 30, 1926, I have disclosed a ramp structure consisting of two entwined spirals, one forup traflic and one for down traffic. One ramp structure of this kind will serve a building of reasonable size and give adequate ingress and egress even at the peak loads. In larger buildings it has heretofore been necessary to provide two such ramps or else suffer congestion at the times of heavy traffic.

By the improvement of the present application I increase the capacity of the ramp without: appreciable reduction in the rentable floor space to an extent as great for all practicable purposes as would be afforded by a duplicate ramp structure.

My invention consists primarily in the employment of a, triple ramp, that is, a ramp consisting of three entwined spirals of a pitch such that the distance from floor to floor is traversed in onethird of a complete turn instead of in half a turn,

as in the present structure. By this arrangement two of the ramps may be used as in-going ramps in the afternoon when the principal movement of the cars is into the garage, while in the morning two of the three will be used as out-going ramps, thereby facilitating the ready handling of the out-going traffic which is heaviest at that time.

In the accompanying drawings I have illustrated a practical construction of my improved. ramp, and in the said drawings Figs. 1 and 2 are plan views showing the ground floor and the next floor above, of a garage provided with my improved ramp;

Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic development showing the relation of the ramps to the several floors;-

Fig. 4 is a sectional view on. a smaller scale than'Figs. 1 and 2 on line 4-4 of Fig. 1, the section extending through six successive floors of 5M the building;

Figs. 5 and 6 are diagrammatic views showing the passage of a car up and downthe ramp structure and illustrating the. need for a differentcontour of surface for up and down trafiie; and

Figs. 7, 8 and 9 are sectional views showingtypical contours for the three ramps.

Referring to the. drawings, 1. indicates. the several floors of the garage building, which floors: are connected by a. ramp structure comprising three 5 ramps 2, 3 and 4, respectively, which. structure is preferably located at the middle of. the building and opposite the entrance 5. The entrance preferably consists of three doorways, one for each. of the three ramps. The two outer doorways 6 and Q 8: are at all times entrance and exit, doors, respectively, while the middle door 7'' will be. an exit door in the morning and an entrance door in the evening. In the same way ramps 2 and 4 are. always up-going and down-coming ramps, re- 5 spectively, whereas ramp 3 carries down trafiic in. the. morning and up traffic in the afternoon.

As set out in my co -pending application of even date herewith, the floor contour for an up-going ramp and the contour for a down-going ramp. are 0. preferably different, to. minimize in each case the torsional strain on the frame of the car in climb;- ingthe curved grade. Ramp 2 will therefore: have the floor contour specified for up-going ramps: in my co-pendizig application above mentioned, 95 I while ramp 4 will have the contour for downgoing ramps, and ramp 3 will have: a contour which is a mean of the contours of the other two ramps, so as to serve the traffic in either direction with the minimum additional torsional strain.

The reason why cars moving up a spiral ramp are subjected to different strains from cars coming down the ramp is fully explained, in my said co-pending application and will not be repeated in detail here. Figs. 5 and 6 sufficiently illus- 105 trate the underlying principle for the purposes of this application. Fig. 5 shows diagrammatically a portion of a ramp with a car proceeding upwardly thereon. The radial lines marked 4 ft., 5 ft., 6 ft., etc. indicate different points on the grade 1% in terms of height above the floor line of an unbanked ramp surface. The circumferential lines on which the wheels of the car travel are marked 20 and 21 for the rear wheels and 22 and 23 for the inner and outer front wheels, respectively. It will be observed that the points of contact of the two rear wheels lie on the same radius line and consequently are at the same point on the grade. The front wheels, however, due to the fact that they are turned on steering knuckles instead of by means of a swiveled axle, are not on the same radius line. Instead the inner wheel is further advanced, and in the example shown is at an elevation three inches higher than the outer front wheel.

In like manner the wheels of a car proceeding down the ramp are out of linewith each other, as shown in Fig. 6, wherein the radial grade lines are indicated in the same way as in Fig. 5 and the paths of the respective wheels are indicated by the circumferential lines 24, 25, 26 and 2'7. The inner front wheel is in advance of the outer front wheel as in the case of the cars ascending the ramp, but, due to the fact that the car is going down the ramp the wheel in advance will be lower than the other wheel. If no banking were required for centrifugal force and the cars were all of the same size and all followed the same path, it would be sumcient to provide a trough of proper depth for the inner front wheel on the ramp for up traffic and a similar trough for the outer front wheel on the down ramp. This of course would not be practical and a continuous ramp contour is therefore designed in the manner pointed out in my companion application, and in Figs. '7, 8 and 9 I have illustrated typical resultant contours.

Fig. 1 shows the ground floor plan of the garage building and one arrangement of driveways from the several entrances to their respective ramps so as to avoid cross traffic in both directions of movement through entrance '7.

The ramp of my present invention will of course occupy a greater floor area than the double ramp of my former application. There is a limit to the grade which can be given the ramp for easy driving, and in order for the ramp to make the ascent from one floor to the other within one-third of a complete turn, the diameter of the ramp has to be somewhat larger than with the double ramp. For example, with a building of ten and a half feet from floor lever to floor level, the ramp will preferably have a radius of forty-four feet from the center to the outer edge of the ramp, as shown in Fig. 2. This gives a grade at the center of the ramp of 13.8%, which is a very easy grade. Also, the greater diameter of the ramp makes driving somewhat easier as the curve is not so sharp as with the ramp of smaller diameter. The floor space loss, however, is not measured alone by the difference in diameter of the double and triple ramp, for the space within the ramp is utilized for car storage and the ramp of larger diameter permits the storage of a greater number of cars per unit of floor space than the smaller ramp. Thus, in a ramp of the dimensions above described fourteen cars may be parked in the floor space within the ramp, while the double ramp which must have a radius of not less than thirty feet in order to accommodate the turning radius of the larger oars now on the market, provides space at the middle for the parking of six cars. The triple ramp requires a little less than onethird more space than two double ramps, and yet in the majority of instances will provide for the handling of cars quite as rapidly as the two double ramps.

It will of course be understood that the three entrances need not be on one side of the building. In fact, the ramps are more readily accessible and less open space is required on the ground floors of the building if access can be had from more than one side.

The entrance to and the egress from the ramp may also be facilitated by not continuing the ramp '7 all the way to the ground floor in its spiral path, but instead bringing the ramp away from the circumference of the spiral as it nears the floor on a tangent, permitting the cars to approach the ramp in a more direct line from the entrance.

Other modifications of the ramp structure as it will be necessary to best adapt the ramp to buildings of different size and arrangement may be adopted without departing from the spirit of my invention, which is defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A garage comprising a plurality of superimposed horizontal floors and a ramp structure therefor comprising three entwined spiral passageways, one of said passageways having its surface at the middle third of the width of the ramp depressed below the radial base line of the spiral whereby its contour is adapted for upwardly moving cars, one of said passageways having its surface at the middle third of the width of the ramp raised above the radial base line of the spiral whereby its contour is adapted for downwardly moving cars, and the third passageway having its surface contour intermediate the other two whereby it is adapted for traflic in either direction.

2. A garage comprising a plurality of superimposed horizontal fioors and a ramp structure therefor comprising three entwined spiral passageways connected from the main floor of said garage with each of said spirals, said building having an entrance doorway, an exit doorway and a third doorway intermediate the other two, said floor having entrance and exit passages so arranged with respect to the ramps that cars may pass from the entrance doorway to one ramp to the exit doorway from the other ramp and in either direction between the third doorway and the third ramp without cross-traffic.

HORACE LpSMITH, JR. 

